e leaves, the scent of the woodbine, the
pattering of the winged seeds of the maple upon the pages of Boccaccio,
the fitful twittering of the birds--all ascended as offerings of
recompense to the blind man, but they only tended to enhance the sense
of his affliction. He caught but the skirts of the goddess of that
creation whose glories he had chanted in his celestial epic; and yet no
murmur escaped from the dejected lip of Milton!

Again darkness surrounded the Rosicrucian--again the awful voice
resounded in his imagination.

"Behold!" it said, "the sorrows of the great and virtuous when the light
is quenched: behold the divine prerogative of those who see! And know,
Balsamo, that such are the boons thou hast contemned--such are the
faculties thou hast polluted."

MIRABEAU.

After a scarcely perceptible pause, the Voice resumed: "The miseries of
those who have abused or lost the powers of seeing, of tasting, or of
feeling, have been revealed to thee, O sceptic! Thine eyes have
penetrated into the dim retrospections of the past. Look onwards,
Balsamo, and thou shalt discern the things that are germinating in the
womb of the future."

Cagliostro had scarcely heard this assurance when the curtain hitherto
impenetrable to mortal, was raised--the dread shadows of the future were
dispelled. He found himself in the upper apartment of one of the most
distinguished mansions in Paris. The chamber, which was lofty and
spacious, was enriched with the most costly furniture, and the most
gorgeous decorations. Pilasters, incrusted with marble, and enamelled
with lapis-lazuli, broke the monotony of the walls and supported the
ceiling with their capitals. Between these pilasters were pedestals
surmounted with statuary and busts; and these, again, were reflected in
the mirrors hung about the room in profusion. An almost oriental luxury
characterised the Turkish carpets, as soft as the greensward, and the
draperies of velvet which concealed the windows, and fell in graceful
folds about a bed at the opposite end of the apartment. An antique
candelabrum stood upon the mantelpiece and shed a rosy and voluptuous
light over this domestic pomp, while some odorous gums crackled in a
chafing-dish upon the hearth and loaded the air with their fragrance.

Familiar as the Rosicrucian was with splendour, his glance roved over
these appurtenances with delight, for he had never before seen the
evidences of wealth so enhanced by the evidences